Sustainable whole-tree harvesting practice requires that nutrient removal from the forest is compensated. Woodashes contain all the nutrients, except for nitrogen, that are found in unburned fuel and can also increase soil pH, whichmakes ash recycling a natural way to stabilize the nutrient balance and counteract the acidification of forest soils thatoccurs due to intensive forest management. Several methods for processing ashes into spreadable products have beendeveloped. The aim of this paper is to compare these methods. The study mainly focused on an economic evaluation ofproduction, transportation and the spreading of self-hardened ash, ash pellets and ash granules. Self-hardened ash isgenerally considered to be the cheapest alternative to manufactured ash products, but these results imply that the most costeffective alternative is ash pellets. Around 27% of total costs could be earned from recycling the ash by producing pelletsand 8% if granules are produced instead of self-hardened ash. This partly depends on the higher density of the pellets andgranules and a significant reduction in the number of transportation operations. The reduction in transportation operationsand diesel consumption also has major environmental benefits. Furthermore, it is more efficient to produce granules andpellets than it is to produce self-hardened ash and it is also easier to produce a reliable product of an appropriate size,shape and texture for a market that has well defined requirements.

Ash products and their economic profitability2012Inngår i: Linnaeus Eco-Tech 2012, 26-28 Nov., Kalmar, Sweden: The Eighth International Conference on the Establishment of Cooperation Between Companies and Institutions in the Nordic Countries, the Baltic Sea Region, and the World Conference on Natural Sciences and Environmental Technologies for Waste and Wastewater Treatment, Remediation, Emissions Related to Climate, Environmental and Economic Effects, 2012Konferansepaper (Annet vitenskapelig)